A unique take on a superhero comic book, Villainous is an exciting and very interesting story to read. Following a girl who looks like a reptile, tail, scales, claws and all, she finds her way through the world as she works toward her goal, being a superhero. But she really doesn’t know what she’s in for, and honestly neither did I. A beautifully done book, I really enjoyed reading it from start to finish.
4/5 Stars 112 pages Published May 4th 2021 by Mad Cave Studios
Matilda is a girl who’s excited to start her apprenticeship with the local superhero troop, The Coalition. But it’s not exactly what she expected. Mostly doing gopher errands, she feels like her new identity as Rep-Tilly is hidden in the shadows. But things turn around quickly for her when she finds out that they don’t just save people, they also kill the people that they deem bad enough to kill. And she’s not sure how she feels about that. She just wants to be a hero, and heroes don’t kill people, right? That’s until they set her up as a terrorist to the world for finding out their big secret.
This book was an exciting story of how things can go wrong at the worst time, and people aren’t always who you think they are. I really enjoyed getting to know the characters, and I feel like things wrapped up pretty well at the end of the book. I’d love to know more about them and their world, but you know, it’s just one graphic novel, and there’s only so much story that you can pack into it. I feel like the art really fit the storytelling as well. Definitely check it out if you get the chance, and if you like superheroes.
Hey everyone! Hope you’re having a great day so far. It’s the beginning of a new month, so you know what that means? I’m going to go over my favourite books of last month! I can’t wait to tell you all about them. And of course, my individual reviews and links for you to buy the books yourself if you’re interested will be added to them too. So lets get started!
First off we have Down World by Rebecca Phelps!
As the site of a former military base, there have always been rumors that East Township High School was the site of experiments with space and time. For years, students have whispered in the hallways of a doorway created within the school, one that can access multiple timelines and realities, a place known as the Down World.
As the new kid in school and still reeling from the unexplained death of her brother Robbie, Marina O’Connell is only interested in one thing: leaving the past behind. But a chance encounter with handsome Brady Picelli changes everything. He will lead Marina to a startling discovery. The Down World is real and the past, present, and future are falling out of balance.
Brady is determined to help Marina discover what really happened to her brother. However, what is taken from one world, must be repaid by another. And Marina is about to discover that even a realm of infinite possibilities has rules that must be obeyed.
You can check out my full review here, and grab a copy for yourself here!
Second is Creatures Volume 1: The City that Never Sleeps by Stephan Betbeder, & Djief
In a post-apocalyptic New York City obliterated by a Big Night that wiped out most of civilization, bands of children struggle to stay alive in the wreckage, hunting for food under billowing clouds of toxic fog and running from hungry zombies. One child is endowed with the power to keep them at bay, but will it be enough to protect the survivors from the terrifying creature that has just risen out of the Hudson River? Meanwhile, a raving old man with a house full of books says the worst is yet to come…
Here’s my full review, and here’s where you can get your own!
Third is The Famoux by Kassandra Tate
Fame can be deadly.
Out of the wreckage of environmental collapse, the country of Delicatum emerged. Its most popular celebrities are the Famoux, uniquely beautiful stars of a reality TV show called the Fishbowl. In a world still recovering from catastrophe, they provide a 24/7 distraction.
Sixteen-year-old Emilee Laurence is obsessed with the Famoux—they provide a refuge from her troubled home life and the bullies at school. When she receives an unimaginable offer to become a member herself, she takes it. Leaving behind everything she’s ever known, Emilee enters a world of high glamour and even higher stakes.
Because behind their perfect image lies an ugly truth—an anonymous stalker has been dictating the Famoux’s every move, and being popular really is a matter of life or death.
You can see my full review here, and here’s where you can get a copy for yourself!
Fourth is Inhuman by Denis Bajram, Valerie Mangin, & Rochebrune!
A small exploratory vessel crashes onto an unknown ocean planet after its crew is seized by a sudden madness. After escaping their sinking ship, the five survivors are helped to the surface by giant squid-like creatures who guide them to what appears to be the planet’s only island. To their surprise, they are greeted on the shore by primitive humans, who prove to be welcoming despite their cannibalistic rituals. But their fixed smiles and total docility suggest that something more sinister is going on. Are the castaways doomed to join them in submitting to the will of the mysterious Great One?
Here’s my full review, and here’s where you can grab a copy!
And last but not least is The Fall Volume 1 by Jared Muralt!
Readers who found themselves gripped by the apocalyptic adventure of Robert Kirkman’s THE WALKING DEAD and who were moved by the emotion in Cormac McCarthy’s THE ROAD will not want to miss Jared Muralt’s THE FALL.
After just losing his wife, one father will have to face a world in freefall; shaken to its core by an economic, social, political and health crisis without precedent. Facing seemingly unreal and very unexpected dangers, he will do whatever it takes to protect his loved ones in a country on the brink of collapse. In this internationally acclaimed series, Jared Muralt not only tells the story of one family struggling to survive, but also questions the very reasons that brought mankind to this apocalypse.
You can check out my full review here, and here’s where you can get a copy for yourself!
Wow! I can’t believe that three out of five books last month were comics. I mean I can believe it, I read a lot of them, but I’m surprised! And the other two were wattpad published books, which is crazy to me! Mostly because I’ve never really noticed anything from the actual wattpad publisher that has really caught my eye before, but that changed in march! I can’t wait to see what my favourites for this month are.
Have you read any of these books? Are you thinking about getting some of them? What were your favourites last month? I want to talk! Anyways, thanks for reading.
4/5 Stars 160 pages Published November 24th 2020 by Image Comics
You know how I feel about books about people with powers, and if you don’t here’s a reminder. I love them most of the time! Especially when there’s something relatable to our own world it. And that’s why I loved this book. Super relatable even now in the midst of a lockdown, the future world that Mer lives in is not only filled with some really interesting tech, but one with a virus that kills most of the people that catch it. If you can live through it, however, you’re really a changed person, quite literally. You have powers, but you’re also completely segregated from the people without. But you’re immune from catching it again.
We see some familiar things, gang violence, daily mask wearing, a girl who just lives with her cat, and it changes to something crazy and really interesting. After learning she has the virus, to almost dying in the hospital, Mer has some big changes coming to her life, and that’s not just losing her job due to her sudden illness. She’s now faced with a choice to join a gang, or just be completely isolated from everyone else. She just wants advice from her cousin, but even that’s not so simple.
This was a really good book, and I can’t wait to see what happens next. It has some action in it, including a lot of really detailed blood and gore at times, but entwined into that is a story of a woman just wanting to fit in and really find herself again. I didn’t want to put it down once I started it. I think that this was a really nice break from the novels I’ve been reading lately, or more like haven’t been reading. It was a breath of fresh air, and it gives me new motivation. If you think you’d be into something like that, I definitely recommend checking it out.
If you’d like to grab a copy, you can here through my Amazon Associates link!
And if you’d like to keep up with one of the creators you can here on Twitter!
Thanks for reading! Hope you’re doing well and staying safe.
4/5 Stars 144 pages Published November 11th 2020 by Ahoy Comics
I’m going to be honest, I haven’t read as many comics and graphic novels this year as I have in other years. No particular reason, just not as many have caught my eye lately. This one however, is very different than the usual ones I would pick up, horror or supernatural or superhuman comics. Billionaire Island is a story about what would happen if a massive corporation wanted to control the world’s population by not only creating a deadly sterilization virus, but also if they took the world’s richest people and stuck them all on a floating man made island away from the chaos. But as they’re going to find out, they can’t run and hide forever.
I really enjoyed the topic of this comic because I love apocalyptic fiction, and I love violent scenes in comics. The story was amazing and I really didn’t want to put it down once I finally got around to reading it. The characters ranged from kind of strange, chaotically neutral, and then just the diabolical richest of the rich. Sometimes I think that rich people really think like this, just without a care for anyone else in the world, and this book really takes it to the absolute extreme. Locking people up at their work station so that they don’t kill themselves, putting people that they don’t want around in a human sized hamster cage to live out the rest of their lives, and even letting a literal dog run their world. Who knew all of these things could go together so well?
And at the midst of the story, a man who’s lost everything he cares about in life, just trying to expose the billionaires for what they really are. And taking down anyone he has to in the process. He’s bad ass, and he’s ready to get his revenge. I really liked reading this story, and there isn’t really anything bad to say about it, at least in my opinion. I would say if you think you’d be into something like this, definitely grab a copy and check it out for yourself! I’d love to have one on my bookshelf.
You can grab one here, through my Amazon associates link.
And if you’d like to keep up with the creator’s on Twitter, you can here.
5/5 Stars 160 pages Published August 4th 2020 by Image Comics
Do you love X-Men just as much as I do? People who have special powers each as unique as they are? What about a world where they’re segregated from the people who don’t have powers and the government demonizes them? Than this book will be perfect for you. Not only do they have their own powers, but occasionally, they can combo their powers together, creating even stronger ones. Don’t expect this book to be completely straightforward though, because there are some crazy twists in the story even I didn’t expect.
At the beginning, we see a young man and woman in an alley, making graffiti. Pretty harmless, right? Well not to everyone. Because special Variant officers come and take them down, treating the one they catch as a hardened criminal, and taking her far away and not letting her see the light of day. She’s missing, and the only person that can help her is Charlie, the young man who was with her, who secretly films the assault on Nona and uploads it for the world to see. But is he doing it for the right reasons?
He then joins up with a team of women who are determined to change the world, and how people see and treat Variants, the people with powers. But it’s going to be a long road before they get justice, and before the officers even begin to see them as people. But they’re just as much people as anyone else, most of them barely having any powers at all. The world needs to change, and they’re going to do whatever they can to do it.
This book was one that I knew as soon as I started it, I was going to be obsessed with. I love the art, it’s so cartoony and amazing and it just fits the story so well, even the violent parts that aren’t so innocent. I also love the bright colours in this, as a girl with coloured hair, I always love a main character with brightly coloured hair like me. I couldn’t get enough of it. And I can’t wait to check out the next volume. Definitely check it out if you get the chance, and even if you don’t think you would love it, I think you should just try it out. I’m sure you’ll be as obsessed as I am.
If you’d like to grab a copy, you can do so here, through my Amazon Associates link.
And if you’d like to keep up with the creators, you can do so here! I’ve link some Twitter accounts for you to follow.
Hey everyone! I’m posting a bonus today, because I like to break up the cover reveals on my blog so there’s a little variety, you know? So here we go! My favourite books I read last month.
First off, Leonardo 2 by Stephane Levallois.
Planet Earth, engaged in an intergalactic conflict, owes its salvation to the clone of Leonardo da Vinci and to the rebirth of his genius. Author Stéphane Levallois has created the fantastic universes of many of the big Hollywood blockbusters (Alien, King Kong (Skull Island), Harry Potter and many others). The result of two years of elaboration and work, this space opera exemplifies his talent in two areas that he masters to perfection: the universe of science fiction and art. To build his story and compose his boards, Levallois draws from the painted and drawn work of the Renaissance master, selecting a large number of drawings and paintings by Leonardo to represent the characters, vessels or even the architectures in his story. The grand scale result is stupefying as Leonardo’s everlasting visions are successfully projected into a stunning futuristic setting.
Second is The Cup and the Prince (Kingdom of Curses and Shadows #1) by Day Leitao.
One prince wants her out. Another wants her as a pawn. Someone wants her dead.
Zora wants to win the cup and tell them all to screw themselves.
Yes, 17-year-old Zora cheated her way into the Royal Games, but it was for a very good reason. Her ex-boyfriend thought she couldn’t attain glory on her own. Just because she was a girl. And he was the real cheater. So she took his place.
Now she’s competing for the legendary Blood Cup, representing the Dark Valley. It’s her chance to prove her worth and bring glory for her people. If she wins, of course.
But winning is far from easy. The younger prince thinks she’s a fragile damsel who doesn’t belong in the competition. Determined to eliminate her at all costs, he’s stacking the challenges against her. Zora hates him, hates him, hates him, and will do anything to prove him wrong.
The older prince is helping her, but the cost is getting Zora entangled in dangerous flirting games. Flirting, the last thing she wanted. And then there’s someone trying to kill her.
Third is The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (The Hunger Games #0) by Suzanne Collins.
It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the tenth annual Hunger Games. In the Capital, eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow is preparing for his one shot at glory as a mentor in the Games. The once-mighty house of Snow has fallen on hard times, its fate hanging on the slender chance that Coriolanus will be able to outcharm, outwit, and outmaneuver his fellow students to mentor the winning tribute.
The odds are against him. He’s been given the humiliating assignment of mentoring the female tribute from District 12, the lowest of the low. Their fates are now completely intertwined — every choice Coriolanus makes could lead to favor or failure, triumph or ruin. Inside the arena, it will be a fight to the death. Outside the arena, Coriolanus starts to feel for his doomed tribute… and must weigh his need to follow the rules against his desire to survive no matter what it takes.
The fourth book is Girl Minus X by Anne Stone.
Fifteen-year-old Dany is trying to survive with her little sister, Mac, in a world collapsing under the weight of a slow, creeping virus that erodes memory. As their identities slip away from them, the late-stage infected are quarantined by the Ministry of Disease Control in prison-hospices, military camps where some of Dany’s family have already been taken.
When a new and more virulent strain of the disease emerges and Dany begins to experience symptoms, the sisters are cast into crisis. As they try to escape the city together with Dany’s best friend, Eva, and history teacher, Mr. Faraday, Dany comes to see the ways in which her own fear has carried her trauma with her. As her past erodes, Dany’s present flickers into full fluorescence.
Elegant and thoughtful, Girl Minus X is a novel in which a young girl navigates her trauma in a world that can’t help but forget.
And the last one is Echoes of War (Echoes Trilogy #1) by Cheryl Campbell.
Decades of war started by a genocidal faction of aliens threatens the existence of any human or alien resisting their rule on Earth. Dani survives by scavenging enough supplies to live another day while avoiding the local military and human-hunting Wardens. But then she learns that she is part of the nearly immortal alien race of Echoes—not the human she’s always thought herself to be—and suddenly nothing in her life seems certain.
Following her discovery of her alien roots, Dani risks her well-being to save a boy from becoming a slave—a move that only serves to make her already-tenuous existence on the fringes of society in Maine even more unstable, and which forces her to revisit events and people from past lives she can’t remember. Dani believes the only way to defeat the Wardens and end their dominance is to unite the Commonwealth’s military and civilians, and she becomes resolved to play her part in this battle. Her attempts to change the bleak future facing the humans and Echoes living on Earth suffering under the Wardens will lead her to clash with a tyrant determined to kill her and all humankind—a confrontation that even her near-immortal heritage may not be able to help her survive.
Thanks for reading! Have you checked out or want to check out any of these books yet? Lets talk about them!
Human is so much more than just a super interesting looking cover and a nice red aesthetic. It’s the story of power, spiraling out of control. Of an ancient Earth, still living and healing long after people have deemed it uninhabitable. Human might be one of my favourite graphic novel’s that I’ve read lately, and I think it would make a really nice addition to anyone’s bookshelf, but specifically mine.
5/5 Stars 138 pages Published October 16th 2019 by Europe Comics
Something from space not only breaks apart, but crashes to an Earth, filled with dinosaurs and apes. Turns out, it’s not just space junk, but it’s an actual robot. It’s eager to explore, but it doesn’t know why it’s here or what it’s supposed to be doing, which is a problem. Especially when it’s a hostile environment. But when it’s attacked, another smaller robot flies down and defends it. The two stick together until they find two more robots, and then a ship containing an actual human being.
This is peculiar, because not only is Earth missing it’s humans, but the man in the ship is still alive. And he’s missing his wife. This is when we learn that not only are they scientists, but his wife was going to be the womb of the new human race. Not completely sure how that would work out down the line, but at least they tried, right?
Photo by Adi kavazovic on Pexels.com
Overall, this story was exciting, haunting, cute and extremely gory at times, if you can say cute and gory in the same breath. I loved every minute of it, and like I said, I think it might just be one of my new favourite graphic novels. Scary and cute is the best mix, especially with a little science fiction and horror thrown in. I definitely recommend checking this book out, even if you’re not the biggest fan of any of those things, because I feel like reading this would change your mind.
With a very interesting looking cover, this book doesn’t really give any insight to what might be waiting for you on the inside. Following a girl named Dee, she has a bad hip and walks with a cane. One day, she’s sitting in a booth in a local diner, and a man approaches her with a strange request. He wants to pay her $500 a day to do some kind of mysterious work, neither she or the man will get in trouble from it, it’s a win-win.
3/5 Stars 80 pages Published November 12th 2019 by Image Comics
Who would turn that down? Especially in the financial situation that she’s in, she can’t. So she does it, she makes a routine of it, and she gets her money. The only thing she learns from this, is that money really isn’t everything, and that she is forced to stay in it, unable to simply walk away. She stockpiles her money, waiting for the day she’s able to leave. It doesn’t come in this book, however.
One thing I loved especially was the chain link filler pages when they broke up the individual comics, I thought that was really unique. The story itself is really dark and interesting, but it just wasn’t one of my favourites, I kind of felt lost reading it. The artwork is really unique though, and it’s something you just don’t see in every comic out there. I think the art and the story fit well together, and if you think it’s something you’d like to check out, I’d say go for it! Just because it’s not my favourite, doesn’t mean it can’t be yours.
5/5 Stars 256 pages Published October 22nd 2019 by Lion Forge
Though this book looks like just another cute baking story from the outside, inside it’s actually quite intense. That being said, it does still have adorable art and bright colours, and well, reading it just made me feel good. A story of long lost friends turned lovers, who have to also fight demons with magic. What more could you ask for?
Nova is seemingly an average girl who works at her grandmothers’ bookstore, and although she’s happy to be that person, she’s anything but. Sporting bright blue hearing aids, she’s more than she seems, and is also a witch who knows many crazy spells. One day a woman buys a book, just another normal day, until her friend stops by and tells her that there’s a white wolf staring at her. This changes everything.
Before she can give it another thought, she heads into the forest. Turns out, the wolf is her old friend Tam, who’s a
werewolf. She’s been trying to take down a demon by herself, but cant access her wolf magic, and has been stuck as a wolf for the last month. Isn’t that exciting?
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com
This story is a little more different than most, with the main characters being a witch who’s hard of hearing, and the other a non-binary werewolf. Everyone has their own quirks after all, and it really lead for an interesting story. I especially liked how those things weren’t any kind of big deal for the people around them, especially the magic parts.
Overall I really enjoyed reading this, and I’m glad I got the chance to check it out. It was a fast read, and a sweet one at that, and I would love to have a copy for my collection. Definitely check it out if you get the chance, even if you’re not into stories like these! I think this could change your mind, with how cute it is.
If you’d like to grab a copy for yourself, you can do so here.
Here are some links to the creators Twitter accounts, if you’d like to keep up with them.
radioactive book reviews 